‘House Of The Dragon’: HBO’s Largest Marketing Push Ever Valued At $100M+ Tentpole Proportions

Warner Bros. Discovery‘s surprising decision to shelve “Batgirl” early last month sparked controversy around the industry.

The surprising decision last month to shelve completed DC movie Batgirl was “blown out of proportion” by the press, according to Warner Bros Discovery CFO Gunnar Wiedenfels.

actress Ivory Aquino isn't giving up on the DC Comics hero. Following a  article that revealed Warner Bros.

media reports. Jonathan Young, VP of original programming and production at HBO Max for Europe, Middle East and Africa; Christian Wikander, VP of original programming for the Nordic region; and Annelies Sitvast, who oversees unscripted original programming were all let go as part of the conglomerate’s latest consolidation move.

EXCLUSIVE: Deadline has learned that Warner Bros. is making a slew of release date changes next year. First of all, James Wan’s Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom needs more time in post, so it’s moving from March 17, 2023 to Dec. 25, 2023.

200 “Sesame Street” episodes and feature film “Batgirl,” which was slated to be released this year. On Monday, the service also axed six animated projects that were earmarked for HBO Max, including “Batman: The Caped Crusader,” from “The Batman” director Matt Reeves, J.J.

is off to a flying start. HBO's prequel — set 200 years before Daenerys Targaryen's quest for the Iron Throne — scored nearly 10 million viewers in its Sunday night debut, making it the most highly-rated original new series premiere in the history of HBO. Officially, the cable network reports 9.986 million viewers across both linear and HBO Max streaming platforms in the United States on Sunday night -- even as the streaming app crashed on Amazon Fire TV devices, leaving a portion of potential viewers in the dark. A press release from HBO indicates that Sunday's viewership is expected to make up just a small portion — 20 to 40 percent — of the show's total gross audience. While a direct comparison would be impossible to nail down -- due in part to shifting landscapes in streaming and evolving fandoms — the and both note that first season premiered to 4.2 million viewers in 2011, while its eighth and final season premiere was watched by a record-setting 17.9 million people in 2019. brings to life George R.R.

Selome Hailu HBO Max has canceled upcoming animated feature film “Driftwood,” Variety has learned. From Cartoon Network Studios, the film was greenlit just three months ago.The family adventure movie is one of many titles being lost at the streamer — just last week, nearly 40 series and films were removed from the platform, such as “Little Ellen,” which had 20 completed episodes that were yet to be released.

“House of the Dragon” on Sunday evening — but some viewers were in for an infuriating night when the much-anticipated 10-episode series finally dropped after months of hype.So many fans were trying to stream the show simultaneously — that HBO Max actually crashed. This led to thousands of users not being able to watch the first episode.Many subscribers reportedly fell victim to the streamer’s app fizzling out, with the website outage service Down Detector reporting that there were at about 3,000 blackouts between 8:40 p.m. and 9:25 p,.m.

The biggest marketing campaign in HBO’s history, reaching 130M people in the U.S., culminates this weekend with the premiere of the long-awaited Game of Thrones prequel, House of the Dragon.

David Zaslav, president and chief executive officer of the newly-merged Warner Bros. Discovery, has high hopes for “House of the Dragon,” and touted the series in an email to staffers Friday.In his message to the team, obtained by TheWrap, Zaslav praised HBO boss Casey Bloys, and the premium cable network’s team that are behind “HOTD,” which premieres this Sunday night on HBO.“[They] have shepherded what looks to be the next big cultural moment,” Zaslav wrote.

combine HBO Max and Discovery+ next summer. “As we work toward bringing our content catalogs together under one platform, we will be making changes to the content offering available on both HBO Max and discovery+,” HBO Max said in a statement Wednesday.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at LargeHBO/HBO Max chief content officer Casey Bloys sent a memo to employees this afternoon, explaining the decision by Warner Bros. Discovery to layoff 70 employees, or 14% of his workforce, as the company restructures.

At the end of a day that saw about 70 (14%) staffers in his divisions getting laid off, Casey Bloys, Chief Content Officer for HBO & HBO Max, just sent an email to his team about the cuts as well as his new (old) senior HBO/Max scripted executive team of Amy Gravitt, Francesca Orsi and Sarah Aubrey which includes new responsibilities for Gravitt and Aubrey.

David Zaslav is a busy man, but I think he would benefit from a meeting with Alfred Hitchcock. They had this in common: Facing cycles of disruption, each decided to call a “time out” to gain perspective and design new strategies.

First announced in 2019, “Strange Adventures,” was going to be a DC Super Hero anthology series executive produced by Berlanti, that was supposed to feature characters from across the DC canon. The one-hour drama series would have explored close-ended morality tales about the intersecting lives of mortals and superhumans.Filmmaker Kevin Smith, who was set to direct and co-write an episode of the series with “Supergirl” writer Eric Carrasco, broke the news on his Hollywood Babble-On podcast.“I got a call the other day from Eric before all of this story broke and he was just like, ‘”Strange Adventures” is officially dead.’ And I was like, ‘What the f—, are you serious?!’” Smith said.Smith added: “I thought ‘Strange Adventures’ being a casualty kind of made sense to me.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterGreg Berlanti’s DC series “Strange Adventures” is not moving forward at HBO Max, Variety has confirmed.The planned anthology series was first announced as being in development at the streamer in 2019. Kevin Smith discussed the fate of the series on his “Hollywood Babble-On” podcast, saying he was working on an episode with “Supergirl” writer Eric Carrasco.“I got a call the other day from Eric before all of this story broke and he was just like ‘Strange Adventures is officially dead,’ and I was like ‘What the f–k, are you serious?!'” Smith said.“I thought ‘Strange Adventures’ being a causality kind of made sense to me,” he continued.

After a few days of mass uncertainty, with folks on social media wondering what is going on at one of the biggest studios in Hollywood, Warner Bros. Discovery has shed some light on the company’s future.

Gallery: From teen idol to global pop icon and Emmy nominated actress. . . Happy 30th birthday, Selena Gomez! (BANG Showbiz)Chrissy's comments come after David Zaslav, the CEO of Warner Bros Discovery - the parent company of HBO Max - revealed HBO Max and Discovery+ will be merged into a single product in the US by mid-2023.